Grad Student Rips Flag Down While Screaming “Fascism”

Outside President Donald Trump’s speech to auto workers Wednesday in Michigan, an anti-Trump graduate student ripped an American flag from a Trump supporter’s trailer, and her reasoning for doing so was absurd.

Lena Amick told WWJ that she tore down the flag because she was frustrated about the “fascism” that had been “taking over the country.”

The 26-year-old University of Michigan graduate student was immediately detained by police officers who witnessed her destroy the flag — something she also thought pointed to a flaw in our country.

Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Flores told MLive that when Amick pulled the red, white and blue flag off the Trump supporter’s trailer, she damaged it.

But Amick insisted her actions in destroying someone’s property — even if it was an American flag — were not comparable to what the anti-Trump protesters were concerned about. Apparently, those concerns included their belief that the U.S. has become a “fascist” country.

The literal definition of fascism, according to Merriam-Webster, is when a government — headed by a dictatorial leader — stands for severe economic and social regimentation and forcible suppression of opposition.

When has anyone who opposed the government or a political party ever been “forcibly suppressed” by a dictatorial government in the U.S.?

The truth is that if Amick truly lived in a country governed by fascism, she would not have even been allowed to gather with her anti-Trump buddies to protest the president’s policies.

Amick, however, saw it differently.

“It’s definitely frustrating to see how in this country … not to advocate for property destruction in any way … that something like that is taken so much more seriously than the destruction of lives,” she told WWJ.

Trump supporter Rob Cortis of Livonia had argued with Amick earlier in the day, but police had separated them, according to an MLive photographer at the scene.

Cortis said he was attempting to leave the area when he saw Amick in his rear view mirror tearing down the flag on his trailer. He said he believed his rights were violated and was seeking charges.

“Why should she rip down my American flag and destroy it?” Cortis asked. “What good does that do anybody?”

Flores said that police intended to submit a charge of malicious destruction of property to the Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for review.

Even Amick knew that her actions were wrong.

“I did something that one could press charges against technically, because to pull a flag off of something is a destruction of private property,” she said.

It was also an unnecessary display of frustration to take out her disagreement with a political figure on our sacred, national flag.